Chapter 21: Seeing Double
"If you think for a second that I'll let you walk into that obvious trap by yourself, then you are sadly mistaken." Natsuki snapped at her girlfriend, whose face was a complete blank of a mask.
A few minutes ago, all fourteen occupants of the summer cottage were having a peaceful breakfast downstairs. Mai was cooking up a storm, Mikoto was eating up a storm, and the rest of the gangs were chatting amongst themselves while enjoying their food in a far more modest manner than the human black hole.
But then Youko got a phone call from the Director, and it changed everything.
"Shizuru!" Natsuki growled, her patience was wearing thin. "Talk to me!"
Shizuru calmly took another sip of her morning tea and then put down the cup on the table. "Like I said before, there is a hostage situation in the Director's Office, and the captor demanded my presence. That's all."
"'That's all' my ass!!!" Natsuki slammed her fist on the table, nearly knocking over the tea cup. "I won't let you go. End of discussion."
"I need to go."
"You don't need to do SQUAT!"
"People's lives depend on..."
"LET THEM DIE!" Natsuki yelled at the top of her lungs. The harsh statement shocked not only the bystanders, but also herself. Let them die? Did I really say that? She cringed inside, but she didn't let it show on her face.
Haruka was planning on giving the hostile biker a piece of her mind, however, Yukino was tugging on her elbow and shooting her the 'please shut up' look. The pompous blond reluctantly followed her best friend's advice for once.
Being one of Natsuki's best friends, Mai was angered by the girl's outrageous statement, and she was not about to keep quiet about it. She was staring at Natsuki like she never knew her. "Natsuki, you didn't really mean that. You are not that heartless."
"I meant every word. They can all go to hell for..." Her venomous speech was interrupted by a tight embrace from her girlfriend.
"Shhh... Don't say something you know you will regret later. Natsuki is a gentle girl after all, too gentle sometimes. You don't have to force yourself." Shizuru held the girl's head against her chest, stroking the silky raven hair softly.
"Then don't go." Her voice broke. Not caring all her friends were watching, Natsuki put her arms around Shizuru's waist and held her in a bone-crushing bear hug.
Shizuru chuckled. "Not by myself, I won't."
"Heh?" Natsuki jerked her head up from her girlfriend's chest, making a small hiccup sound as she studied Shizuru's tranquil face with confusion.
"While you were busy screaming at me, I was busy devising a rescue plan. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to discuss the plan with everyone here." Shizuru said in her signature teasing demeanor. "But I have to admit that I am rather flattered to know you care about me this much..."
"SHIZURU!" Natsuki's face changed from white to red to purple in less than a second. "This is not the time for this!"
Shiho couldn't stop crying.
"I was so... so afraid..." She sobbed out loud in Midori's arms, her usually well groomed pink hair disheveled. Those four tentacle-like pony tails had curled up all over the place, making her head looked like a giant octopus that had been sitting on a grill far too long. "Onii-chan... Onii-chan... I can't find him... He never came back..."
Midori thought she was going to be choked to death by the girl's iron grip. "Calm down, Shiho-chan. Stop squeezing me... can't breathe..." So this is what it feels like being entangled in tentacles...
Shiho reluctantly let go. Midori took a deep breathe.
The force of the storm had subsided at daybreak, the history teacher was able to locate the lost girl in a shallow cave on the side of a small cliff. Both of them were cold and hungry from a night in the woods, but fortunate they didn't catch a cold.
"I'm just glad I found you. Alright, now tell me from the beginning. Why are you here by yourself? Where are Tate and Takeda? I thought they were with you..."
Sobbing and hiccuping, Shiho told Midori about her miserable day. A demon-like Kuga Natsuki (so she thought) beat up Tate and Takeda but spared her. Takeda was seriously injured and Tate had to carry the kendo captain to a hospital. They got separated trying to hide from some suspicious military-looking characters, and Shiho never managed to get out of the mountain on her own.
"Don't worry, Midori-chan is here to save the day. I'll take you back to Fuuka in no time." Midiro gave the crying girl a confident grin before she peered at the rain clouds gathering at the edge of the horizon. As soon as possible. We are in the eye of the storm now, the wind will pick up soon. She added mentally.
Nina had never felt this furious before in her life.
"Call her again. Tell her if she doesn't come here within five minutes, I'll give her more reasons to hurry up." Tomoe said, carelessly pressing the blade tighter against her hostage's neck. Erstin let out a small whimper and closed her eyes, tears silently streaming down her cheeks.
"Don't... Please don't hurt her. I'll call Fujino-sama right away." Nina swallowed her anger and picked up the phone. Fumi was sitting behind her desk while staring at the teal-haired Otome with a solemn expression. Arika was standing next to the Director, barely restraining herself from putting her fist through Tomoe's smirking face.
Before Nina could make the call again, the office door swung open with a soft creak and a young woman clad in a white blouse and a long lilac skirt walked into the room.
"You wanted to see me?"The newcomer asked.
"Ahh... Viola..." Tomoe let out a content sigh and smiled sweetly at her object of affection. "Viola-sama, I've been waiting for you. I miss you so..."
"Shut up, swine."
"Alright, first of all, information. In the beginning the Director called Youko-sensei and asked to speak to me, but then a girl got the phone away from the Director. She called herself 'Tomoe'."
Viola and Kruger exchanged a dark look.
"That crazy bitch!" Kruger muttered. "Causing trouble everywhere she goes..."
"She is a C-type Otome Searrs dispatched to capture us. I defeated her yesterday and destroyed her GEM, I thought she would be harmless... It seemed I was wrong." Viola sighed.
"GEM? What's that?" Youko asked.
"Generable Enigmatic Matrix." Viola brushed aside her honey-coloured hair and revealed the amethyst set earring on her left earlobe. "Think of it as a control panel. With this, we can activate nanomachines inside our bodies and materialize our Robes and Elements. That Tomoe person had lost her GEM, so she cannnot fight with Otome power."
"So that Tomoe person is only a girl." Nao snorted. "Big deal."
Kruger snickered at the redhead. "Don't look down on an Otome, brat. It's true she can't fight with full Otome power, but the nanomachines inside her body still make her stronger and faster than normal human."
Haruka didn't like the news. "Alright, so the enemy is someone fast and strong. How should we deal with her? It's not like we can call the authority." I would love to storm in and whack her with something heavy, but that doesn't sound like a good idea now.
"We exploit her weaknesses." Shizuru continued. "The girl kept calling me 'Viola', apparently, she thought we were the same person. We could use that to our advantage."
Viola? All eyes were on the said Otome now.
Viola cleared her throat. "That girl is mentally unstable."
"That little bitch is an obsessive, possessive, manipulative, psychotic, delusional, homicidal stalking maniac. That what she is." Kruger burst out a long list of choice words reserved for the teal-haired Otome. She resented anyone who tried to take Viola from her.
Natsuki was impressed. "I see you don't like her."
Kruger crossed her arms defiantly. "Long story."
"Ok, so the stalker girl is obsessed with Viola-san, and she thought you two were the same person. I see, but how do we use that against her?" Mai asked while scratching her cheek idly with her index finger, trying hard to think of a viable strategy.
Wanting to be of some help, Mikoto was also trying hard to think of something. Sadly, thinking was not one of her strong suit so she was starting to feel a little dizzy because her brain overheated.
"Hmm... The girl threatened to 'slit an innocent girl's throat' if I don't show up soon. So the most likely scenario is that she is holding some girl at knife point. Maybe if we manage to distract her long enough, we can get the hostage out of harm's way." Shizuru suggested.
"I see. Distraction, eh..." Viola clapped her hands together. "How about this..."
Tomoe stared at the chestnut-haired girl with her mouth hanging slightly open. She couldn't believe what she just heard. "Vi... Viola-sama?"
"Didn't you hear me? I told you to shut up, you worthless insect." The girl in white blouse said with an indifferent blank look on her face.
"Fujino-sama, please don't anger her. Ers... The hostage is still in danger." Nina squeaked in a nervous tone.
"Tomoe-san, don't listen to that woman. Obviously she is a fake. You know you are important to me, don't you?" A girl in lilac dress came in the office and smiled gently at a stunned Tomoe.
"You... you two... Impossible!" Tomoe gasped at the two identical girls. "Viola-sama?"
"Yes." The girl in lilac dressed answered sweetly, but the girl in white blouse merely scoffed. "You are not worthy of speaking my name."
Tomoe was not the only one confused. Fumi, Arika, Nina, even Erstin were all gawking at the two girls thinking how in the world this could happen.
"So? What should we do after we distract her?" Natsuki asked.
"I'll come through the window and neutralize the target." Kruger said.
"You? Can you really pull that off?" Natsuki gave her double a skeptical look, which instantly pissed the other girl off.
"Of course I can! It's not like you can do much in your current state." Kruger leered at the injured biker. "You'll just get in the way."
"You wanted to see me, right? Now, come, I am right here." The girl in lilac dress said with her arms stretched out toward a very confused Tomoe.
"Hmph! Stupid girl. Didn't I tell you I belong to someone else? If you want me, you will have to take me by force. You can try, that is." The girl in white blouse taunted. "Come on, fight me. I am not interested in cowards."
"I..." Tomoe was torn. Both of them looked exactly the same, but their attitudes were so different. Her gaze darted from one to the other, straining to figure out which one was the real Viola. In her confusion, she had unconsciously slackened her hold on Erstin, and her knife holding hand had moved away from the hostage's throat a little bit.
Now it's the chance! Shizuru put her hand in her pocket and pressed the speed dial on her cellphone.
One second, two seconds, more time ticked by, but Kruger didn't storm in from the window as planned. She is late! Didn't she get the phone call? Both Shizuru and Viola thought. What is she doing?
And at the next moment, the roof collapsed and the blue-haired Otome came crashing down, forming a small crater on the floor with an loud, ugly thunk.
"That alone is not good enough. We need a Plan B." Natsuki said. "Think about it. What's the worst possible scenario?"
"Hmm... The hostage dies?" Haruka suggested with a deep frown between her brows.
"No." Alyssa disagreed. "The worst scenario is, annihilation. The hostage, Viola, Kruger, Fujino, and everyone else presents."
Natsuki nodded. "Exactly. We need to be there too, just in case. If anything goes wrong, we will storm in and get you out of there, Shizuru."
"Ara." Shizuru smiled. "How sweet, but wouldn't that be the exact opposite of what you said? It's not wise to get more people involved."
"That's not true." Miyu spoke. "It is unlikely the enemy would be able to corner all of us. We do not have to win against the enemy, the priority is to escape safely shall the need arise."
"What the..." Midori stood in front of the building where the Director's Office resided, her eyes bugged out of their sockets at the extraordinary scene before her. Shiho was also staring with her mouth hanging open, she had never seen anything like this. They just got out of the mountain after an hour-long hike, and they couldn't help but thought they had lost their minds from over exhaustion.
Four black figures were fighting a blue figure in the sky high above the building. The aerial battle was like something that came right out of comic books. One on one the blue figure would have won without a problem, but four against one was another story. A few minutes into the battle, the blue figure was caught in a combo attack and fell out of the sky, crashing all the way down into the building. Smokes and clouds of dusts followed.
The sound of tires screeching to a stop got Midori's and Shiho's attention. They turned around and saw a whole bunch of familiar faces jumping out from two over stuffed cars.
"Damn it! They have backup!" Natsuki cursed as she got off from Haruka's car. "Let's get her out!" She yelled at her friends before grabbing onto Midori's wrist, dragging the clueless history teacher toward the Director's Office. "You are helping too."
"Heh? Help? What?" Midori had no idea what's going on.
"HiME Rangers, to battle!"
Author's Notes:
1. Sorry for the delay, life (stupid final exams) got in the way. Having a major case of writer's block didn't help either.
2. I tried to make this chapter flow as smoothly as possible, but the cut scenes seemed a little distracting. Please read and review, constructive criticisms welcomed.